Anthony Santelmo Jr

Mark Dundas Wood
Anthony Santelmo Jr. has a welcoming presence that can make you feel at times that he is singing especially to and for you. He's a big guy with a big voice, a big personality, and, it seems, a big heart—and his talent is certainly abundant. The title of his new show is "Sleuthy Returns!!!"—Sleuthy being...

Jon Peterson

Mark Dundas Wood
With his recent show exploring the life and career of entertainer Anthony Newley (at Stage 72 at The Triad), British singer-dancer-actor-writer Jon Peterson reminded the audience just how thrilling a well-executed tribute performance can be. In part the success of "He Wrote Good Songs" (a title inspired by Newley's chosen epitaph) can be attributed to...

Barb Jungr

Tonya Pinkins
Barb Jungr is a great interpreter of songs. She is every bit as iconic as the singer/songwriters she chooses to translate and reinterpret. She's a rock star; she looks and feels like the girl next door or your mom—if your mom were Patti Smith or Joni Mitchell. In her current show at 59E59 Theaters, the...

The 25th Anniversary NYC Cabaret Convention

Bistro Awards
The 25th anniversary edition of the NYC Cabaret Convention, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, took place October 20-23 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Robert Windeler, Kevin Scott Hall, and Mark Dundas Wood covered the four nights for us. Following are their thoughts.   I LOVE A PIANO: Celebrating the Great...

Richard Holbrook

Mark Dundas Wood
Fred Astaire's relaxed grace on the dance floor spilled over into his whole onscreen persona—including his work as a singer. For Astaire, the bridge between speaking and singing was really nothing but a couple of steppingstones, over which he lightly skipped. There's nothing jarring when, in a film scene, he suddenly breaks into song—or, of...

Jim Speake

Kevin Scott Hall
In his recent two-night return engagement, this time at The Duplex, the amiable Jim Speake once again gave himself the prodigious task of presenting the music of Cy Coleman, one of the most prolific and challenging composers of Broadway and jazz music. Although Speake was a little tentative and stiff in his opening number, a...

Charlie Rosen’s Broadway Big Band

Mark Dundas Wood
In this one-off performance at 54 Below, young artists from New York's musical theatre community teamed up with director Max Friedman, bassist/bandleader Charlie Rosen, and Rosen's large ensemble of musicians (counting Rosen, 18 were listed in the program, though I somehow never managed to count that many together onstage at one time). The show offered songs from...

Amanda McBroom and George Ball

Robert Windeler
Amanda McBroom and George Ball's recent show at 54 Below was titled "Some Enchanted Evening: An Evening of Love Songs for Grownups." Even more importantly, this was a cabaret show performed by grownups. McBroom and Ball had last sung together in a club in New York City in 1969. ("He was a child, I was in...

Carol Fredette

Robert Windeler
Carol Fredette has decided that she is not going to sing any more downbeat songs, at least when it comes to their lyric content. That sweeping decision has eliminated all of the blues and a large swath of country music, at a minimum, from her possible repertoire. But this show at Jazz at Kitano, taken...

Isabel Rose

Robert Windeler
Expensively produced flash-and-trash is often able to find an enthusiastic audience, even at the high end of the cabaret world. This one-night effort proved that anew, and you didn't have to go to Las Vegas to see it. Rose, whose show at 54 Below was in aid of her latest album release, "Trouble in Paradise,"...